Big Brother maker Endemol has reached an agreement with a "significant majority" of its lenders, bringing to an end more than a year of talks to restructure its €2.8bn (£2.3) debt load.

Endemol, maker of shows including Channel 4's Deal or No Deal and Big Brother on Channel 5, said that it had reached an agreement in principle with more than two-thirds of its lenders to push through a restructuring of its finances.

It is thought that under the agreement, Endemol's debt will be slashed to about €500m.

Endemol's three shareholders – who own a third of the company each – are expected to relinquish control of the production house with their combined stake reduced to below 50%.

The owners will retain seats on the board but will be joined by representatives of the lenders, with Apollo Management expected to be one lender to take a seat.

"We are delighted that the majority of our lenders have in principle agreed to the proposed commercial restructuring terms and we can now enter into the final part of the process," said Marco Bassetti, global president of Endemol.

Endemol said that that over the next few weeks talks with lenders – which include Apollo Management, Centrebridge, Providence Equity Partners, Barclays, RBS and the Lehman Brothers estate – will continue to "finalise documents for the legal implementation of a successful restructuring".

The talks have been fraught with difficulty, with Endemol's owners reluctant to strike a deal to cut the debt load which would see them give up a significant amount of their shareholding.

"Without the constraints of an onerous capital structure, we will be able to pursue exciting growth initiatives and build upon the solid progress that the group has made in 2011," Bassetti said.

Endemol is understood to have made earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of about €150m last year.

The company said on Thursday that it had outperformed its own internal budgets by about 10% in 2011.

During the protracted negotiation period, Endemol shareholders tried to engineer interest in a takeover from potential buyers.

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